Health and wellness

Center of Excellence for Transgender Health (Trans CoE) in San Francisco
Founded in 2009, Trans CoE increases access to comprehensive, effective, and affirming health care services for transgender and gender diverse communities. They partner with UCSF Transgender Care at at UCSF Medical Center, which provides clinical care for transgender and gender non-binary communities.

Fenway Health
A medical center in Boston which partners with Harvard University in its mission to enhance the well-being of the LGBTQ+ community. They include resources for trans-parenting.

Whitman-Walker Health Center in Washington, D.C.
The Whitman-Walker Health Center strives to provide a safe, respectful, affirming, and stigma-free environment that meets the needs of their transgender and gender-expansive patients.

Nebraska Medicine has created a series of videos answering health care questions that you can view here.

Nationz Foundation in Richmond, Virginia

Incorporated in 2015, Nationz assists the Greater Richmond Area with a special focus on the LGBTQIA+ community to access HIV and STI testing, linkage to care, and holistic services to increase wellness. Nationz is one of the leading providers of HIV/AIDS prevention and advocacy. In addition to testing services, they also provide a food pantry, fellowship on Monday nights, support groups, emergency housing, transport for medical appointments and supportive services, computer lab access, and community outreach to provide information and distribute safer sex items.

Peter’s Place

Peter’s Place seeks to provide compassionate and accessible housing, resources, and trauma-informed care to LGBTQIA+ individuals seeking individualized recovery support. They highlight the benefits of living in an LGBTQIA+ recovery house, including a sense of community, safety, and empathy that isn’t present in a recovery house with predominantly straight and cisgender residents. LGBTQIA+ people in recovery can relate to each other on many levels, and Peter’s Place RVA hopes to foster an atmosphere where all LGBTQIA+ folks seeking recovery can find hope, support, acceptance, and liberation.

Suicide prevention

The Trevor Project and TrevorLifeline:  1-866-488-7386

Trans Lifeline: 1-877-565-8860

Faith

Transmission Ministry Collective
In early 2020, Austen Hartke, a transgender person of faith who’s committed to helping other trans and gender-expansive people see themselves in scripture, founded Transmission Ministry Collective, an online community dedicated to the spiritual care, faith formation, and leadership potential of transgender, nonbinary, genderqueer, and gender-expansive Christians. Join the community or check out their resources for trans people.

The Reformation Project
Launched in 2013, The Reformation Project is a Bible-based, Christian organization that works to promote inclusion of LGBTQ people by reforming church teaching on sexual orientation and gender identity. Their ecumenical mission includes Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox Christians. They offer resources for churches and people of faith. Local chapters work for visibility and advocacy, theological education, and building a supportive community.

Queer Grace
Queer Grace is an online encyclopedia for LGBTQ and Christian life. The site strives to be affirming, informational, faithful, and accessible to people of all knowledge levels. The writers are church leaders, seminary students, theologians, and LGBTQIA+ Christians who work in secular fields. Topics range from "What does it mean to be gay and Christian?" to scriptural studies, life and family, overviews of church denominations, and links to welcoming congregations.

LGBTQ Affirming Faith-Based Organizations
You can find a list of affirming faith groups local to Richmond, Virginia here. Find congregations outside central Virginia through the links on Queer Grace. The Human Rights Campaign has compiled a guide for faith traditions’ position on LGBTQ people and the issues that affect them, including Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism.

Camp Hanover

Camp Hanover provides a place apart for renewal and growth in an environment of Christian hospitality. To these ends, the camp offers opportunities for meaningful fellowship, learning, service and growth through programs, facilities and outreach. It’s a summer camp where youth in elementary, middle and high school experience an atmosphere of caring and acceptance at every turn, learning to live, work, play, laugh and worship together in Christian community. It’s also a 600-acre retreat center where groups are invited to connect, refresh, renew, and grow, all year long. Learn more and connect at www.camphanover.org.

Advocacy

Human Rights Campaign

National Center for Transgender Equality

GLAAD

Task Force Transgender Civil Rights Project

Trans People of Color Coalition

The Audre Lorde Project - Transjustice

The Trans 100

We Happy Trans

Legal aid

Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund

Transgender Law Center

National Center for Lesbian Rights - Transgender Law

Sylvia Rivera Law Project

Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders

Lambda Legal

additional Support in central virginia

Side by Side — Watch my interview with Ted Lewis, Executive Director of Side by Side, to learn more about their work helping Virginia’s LGBTQ+ youth belong and flourish.

Richmond chapter of PFLAG
Our local chapter continues the national organization’s mission to promote the dignity and well-being of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and gender non-conforming people. The values of PFLAG and of this chapter stress education, understanding, acceptance, and support, but most of all love, thereby empowering our children — straight, gay, gender variant, questioning, etc. — to lead happy and productive lives. Their monthly meetings support our local GLBT community. Their lobbying efforts focus on working with Virginia lawmakers in the General Assembly to advance the rights of LGBT individuals and extend their legal protections.

Diversity Richmond
In 2015, The Richmond Gay Community Foundation and the Gay Richmond Community Center combined to form Diversity Richmond, a non-profit dedicated to serving the LGBTQ+ community, their families and allies. Through its fundraising arms, Diversity Richmond has contributed to non-profits organizations, such as Richmond Triangle Players, Fan Free Clinic, Side by Side, Equality Virginia and many others. They create locally-focused resources and collaborate with other groups to spark social change.

If you have questions about the language you read on any of these websites, I’ve defined some terms below.

Support

Gender Spectrum hosts free online groups for pre-teens, teens, parents, caregivers, and other family members and adults. These groups provide you with the opportunity to connect with others, share experiences, and feel the comfort of a supportive community. They also offer in-person support groups.

For Parents

PFLAG
In 1973, as Jeanne Manford marched with her son, Morty, in New York's Christopher Street Liberation Day March, gay and lesbian people in the parade said they wished Jeanne could talk to their parents. So Jeanne organized a support group to meet at the Metropolitan-Duane Methodist Church. From that first meeting of approximately twenty people, PFLAG has grown to over 400 chapters and 200,000 members, making it the first and largest organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) people, their parents and families, and allies.

Gender Spectrum
Society's artificial gendering impacts all children, transgender and cisgender. Stephanie Brill, Founder of Gender Spectrum, set out to build an organization that works to create gender sensitive and inclusive environments for all children and teens. Families are central to their work. They offer parenting resources, guides for working with schools, support groups, and much more.

• Learn more about gender and youth

• Find out tips for supporting your gender expansive child

• Join support groups

• Hear stories from other families

• Discover online learning opportunities

• Connect with other parents, caregivers, and family members as well as professionals who work with youth

TransYouth Family Allies
TransYouth Family Allies (TYFA) empowers children and families by partnering with educators, service providers and communities to develop supportive environments in which gender may be expressed and respected. For parents and caregivers, they provide step-by-step plans for practical care of your transgender child or teen, frequently asked questions, explanations of social and medical transitions and how you can support your child throughout, and checklists of important documentation you'll want to prepare.

Trans Kids Purple Rainbow Foundation
Greg and Jeanette Jennings are the proud parents of Jazz, their fourth child who was diagnosed with Gender Dysphoria when she was three years old. The difficulties they encountered while trying to give their transgender daughter a “normal” childhood sparked the creation of Trans Kids Purple Rainbow Foundation (TKPRF). TKPRF is committed to enhancing the future lives of TransKids by educating schools, peers, places of worship, the medical community, government bodies, and society in general, in an effort to seek fair and equal treatment for all transyouth.

Fenway Health
The Boston-based health care center provides resources for parents, including suggestions for what to say to your child and what to say to others if you can’t find the right words.

for Partners

The Trans Partner Handbook: A Guide for When Your Partner Transitions by Jo Green (courtesy of Transmission Ministry Collective)

The Reflective Workbook for Partners of Transgender People: Your Transition as Your Partner Transitions by D.M. Maynard (courtesy of Transmission Ministry Collective)

for Educators and education advocacy

Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN)

Gender Spectrum’s resources for educators and education professionals

The Reflective Workbook for Teachers and Support Staff of Trans and Non-Binary Students by D.M. Maynard

Faith resources

Transmission Ministry Collective
Austen Hartke’s Transforming: The Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians has been a foundational resource for me. His work has been instrumental on my journey toward understanding and allyship, and I'm inspired by his passion for inviting people to find themselves reflected in scripture and welcomed into faith communities. In early 2020, Austen founded Transmission Ministry Collective, an online community dedicated to the spiritual care, faith formation, and leadership potential of transgender, nonbinary, genderqueer, and gender-expansive Christians. Check out their resources for family members.

health and wellness resources

I sat down with Elke Jones Zschaebitz, DNP, ARPN, FNP-BC, to discuss healthcare for transgender individuals as well as questions their families often ask. In this interview we cover:

• What inspired Dr. Elke Jones Zschaebitz to work in health care specializing in care for LGBTQIA patients?

• Dr. Jones Zschaebitz helps us understand gender identity we experience within versus the male or female categories we were assigned at birth.

• What resources do transgender people need from their families and communities?

• What if family, friends, and allies make mistakes?

• How can churches assist people who are transgender and their loved ones?

• What are some organizations, books, and resources to help us increase our understanding?

• How is the COVID-19 pandemic affecting her work and the support she offers to people who are transgender?

Transmission Ministry Collective — Check out their resources for pastors and ministry professionals.
Austen Hartke’s Transforming: The Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians has been a foundational resource for me. His work has been instrumental on my journey toward understanding and allyship, and I'm inspired by his passion for inviting people to find themselves reflected in scripture and welcomed into faith communities. In early 2020, Austen founded Transmission Ministry Collective, an online community dedicated to the spiritual care, faith formation, and leadership potential of transgender, nonbinary, genderqueer, and gender-expansive Christians.

The Reformation Project
Launched in 2013, The Reformation Project is a Bible-based, Christian organization that works to promote inclusion of LGBTQ people by reforming church teaching on sexual orientation and gender identity. Their ecumenical mission includes Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox Christians. They offer online resources for churches and people of faith. Local chapters work for visibility and advocacy, theological education, and building supportive communities.

More Light Presbyterians
More Light Presbyterians is a non-profit organization that works toward the full participation of LGBTQIA+ people in the life, ministry and witness of the Presbyterian Church (USA) -- and in society. In 1999, Presbyterians for Lesbian and Gay Concerns and More Light Churches Network, both dating back to the 1970s, united to form today's ministry. Its programs move congregations toward full inclusion and improved services for LGBTQIA+ individuals. They also oppose discriminatory legislation. Their extensive services and free resources will aid faith leaders beyond the PC(USA).

Queer Theology
Queer Theology provides frank real-world resources for church leaders (such as creating safe spaces for transgender youth at overnight camps and retreats) as well as checklists to help make your church more welcoming and inclusive. Since the site's creation in 2013 by Father Shannon T.L. Kearns and Brian G. Murphy, it's grown to include a podcast, online courses, and free resources.

Rabbi Mike Moskowitz
This spring I had the great pleasure of interviewing Rabbi Mike Moskowitz, the Scholar-in-Residence for Trans and Queer Jewish Studies at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, the world’s largest LGBT synagogue. He's a David Hartman Center Fellow and the author of Textual Activism and the Graceful Masculinity. Watch my interview or visit his website to learn more about allyship in communities of faith.

Trans Kids Purple Rainbow Foundation
Greg and Jeanette Jennings are the proud parents of Jazz, their fourth child who was diagnosed with Gender Dysphoria when she was three years old. The difficulties they encountered while trying to give their transgender daughter a “normal” childhood sparked the creation of Trans Kids Purple Rainbow Foundation (TKPRF). TKPRF is committed to enhancing the future lives of TransKids by educating schools, peers, places of worship, the medical community, government bodies, and society in general, in an effort to seek fair and equal treatment for all transyouth.

Camp Hanover

Camp Hanover provides a place apart for renewal and growth in an environment of Christian hospitality. To these ends, the camp offers opportunities for meaningful fellowship, learning, service and growth through programs, facilities and outreach. It’s a summer camp where youth in elementary, middle and high school experience an atmosphere of caring and acceptance at every turn, learning to live, work, play, laugh and worship together in Christian community. It’s also a 600-acre retreat center where groups are invited to connect, refresh, renew, and grow, all year long. Learn more and connect at www.camphanover.org.

Reading list

Transforming: The Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians by Austen Hartke. Read my review of Transforming in The Presbyterian Outlook.

What Does God Think? Transgender People and the Bible by Cheryl B. Evans

Trans-Gender: Theology, Ministry, and Communities of Faith by Justin Tanis

What is gender identity?

Gender identity is our personal sense of what our own gender is. For many of us, that will mean that we internally experience ourselves to be male or we internally experience ourselves to be female. Increasingly, those who identify internally as neither female nor male are using the term non-binary to describe themselves.

What is non-binary?

The first use of this term is often associated with Riki Anne Wilchins, who used it in a 1995 essay. Born in 1952, Wilchins is an American activist whose work focuses on the impact of gender norms upon society.

You have probably noticed increased usage of this term in recent years. This does not mean it is a recent phenomenon, however. There have been people who identify as non-binary throughout history. Only the term itself is new.

For example, the Public Universal Friend was an American preacher born in Cumberland, Rhode Island, to Quaker parents. This person suffered a severe illness in 1776 and reported having died and been reanimated as a genderless evangelist named the Public Universal Friend, and afterward shunned both birth name and gendered pronouns.

What is gender expression?

Gender expression has to do with the way we make our internal sense of gender visible to other people. We express our gender through the way we dress and style our hair, as well as our speech and gestures.

Our sex assigned at birth stems from examination of the genitalia at the moment of birth, or through the report of an ultrasound or amniocentesis during pregnancy. My two oldest siblings and my youngest sibling were assigned male at birth. I was assigned as female.

What is the definition of transgender?

A transgender person is someone whose sense of personal identity and gender does not correspond with the sex they were assigned at birth. Transgender is an adjective and therefore does not stand alone. It must be attached to a noun. A common google search phrase is “what is a transgender?” revealing a misunderstanding of the nature of the word as an adjective. “What does transgender mean?” is a grammatically correct question. The word transexual is largely considered to be outdated by the majority of young people today. The term has been used to refer to those who have medically transitioned in some way away from the gender assigned to them at birth and to the gender which they experience themselves to be.

What is gender dysphoria?

Gender dysphoria is the distress caused by the conflict between one's emotional and psychological experience as male or female and one’s assigned sex at birth. This disconnect can be quite debilitating.

What is cisgender?

A cisgender person is someone whose sense of personal identity and gender corresponds with their sex assigned at birth. Cisgender, like transgender, is an adjective and is to be paired with a noun.

What is the gender binary?

The gender binary is the description of a social system or cultural belief in which gender is classified into two distinct, opposing forms of masculine and feminine. The gender binary is well established within western society. However, many indigenous cultures around the globe have held more fluid and dynamic understandings of gender. For example, the Bugi society in Indonesia has five different genders in a tradition which dates back at least 600 years. Even within western culture, the attributes associated with being female or male have changed over time. Heels, wigs, makeup and the color pink were reserved for men and boys in previous eras.

What are gender roles?

Gender roles are embodied in our culture’s expectation of what is acceptable in regard to how we dress, behave and present ourselves based on our assigned sex. In the picture above, my two older siblings and I embody our gender roles in the way we dress and the toys we are holding.

What is gender-nonconforming?

Gender non-conforming is exhibiting behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits that do not correspond with the traits typically associated with one's sex assigned at birth. In other words, to be gender non-comforming is to have a gender expression that does not conform to traditional or typical gender norms.

What is sexual orientation?

Sexual orientation refers to who we are sexually and romantically attracted to. It has to do with our relationship to others. Gender identity is separate from sexual orientation. Gender identity has to do with our internal sense of self and gender.

I’ve tried to put together a resource list to meet your needs. That means I’d love to hear from YOU. Please contact me using the form below to express your concerns about any of the resources, tell me about resources I’ve missed, or share how the resources have helped you.